Editing Mary Pickford (section)

== Career ==
=== Early years ===
[[File:Portrait of Mary Pickford, signed (CHS-2292) digital restoration.jpg|thumb|Mary Pickford, 1914–1915 (digitally restored)]]
[[File:Mary Pickford 1916.jpg|right|thumb|Mary Pickford, 1916]]
By the early 1900s, theatre had become a family enterprise. Gladys, her mother, and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail, performing in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a leading role on Broadway, planning to quit acting if she failed. In 1905, she played the boy Freckles in [[Hal Reid (actor)|Hal Reid]]'s ''[[The Gypsy Girl (play)|The Gypsy Girl]]'' on tour, and at the [[Star Theatre (New York City, built 1901)|Star Theatre]] on Broadway.{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|p=38}} In 1906, Gladys, Lottie, and Jack Smith supported singer [[Chauncey Olcott]] on Broadway in ''[[Edmund Burke]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Blum |first=Daniel C. |title=A Pictorial History of the American Theatre, 1860–1985 |publisher=Crown Publishers |location=New York |year=1986 |isbn=0517562588 |url=https://archive.org/details/pictorialhistory0000blum_x3w0/page/89/ |page=89 }}</ref> Gladys finally landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, ''[[The Warrens of Virginia (play)|The Warrens of Virginia]]''. The play was written by [[William C. deMille]], whose brother, [[Cecil B. DeMille|Cecil]], appeared in the cast. [[David Belasco]], the producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name Mary Pickford.<ref name="filmbug">{{cite web|title=Mary Pickford at Filmbug.|url=http://www.filmbug.com/db/342424|publisher=Filmbug|access-date=January 24, 2007}}</ref> After completing the Broadway run and touring the play, however, Pickford was again out of work.

On April 19, 1909, the [[Biograph Company]] director [[D. W. Griffith]] screen-tested her at the company's New York studio for a role in the [[nickelodeon (movie theater)|nickelodeon]] film ''[[Pippa Passes (film)|Pippa Passes]]''. The role went to someone else but Griffith was immediately taken with Pickford. She quickly grasped that movie acting was simpler than the stylized stage acting of the day. Most Biograph actors earned $5 a day but, after Pickford's single day in the studio, Griffith agreed to pay her $10 a day against a guarantee of $40 a week.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pickford |first=Mary |title=Sunshine and Shadow |publisher=Doubleday & Co. |year=1955 |location=Garden City, NY |oclc=1087225193 |language=English |others= Foreword by [[Cecil B. DeMille]].|page=10 }}</ref>

Pickford, like all actors at Biograph, played both leading roles and bit parts, including mothers, [[ingénue]]s, [[Charwoman|charwomen]], spitfires, slaves, Native Americans, spurned women, and a prostitute. As Pickford said of her success at Biograph:<blockquote>I played scrubwomen and secretaries and women of all nationalities ... I decided that if I could get into as many pictures as possible, I'd become known, and there would be a demand for my work.</blockquote> She appeared in 51 films in 1909—almost one a week—with her first starring role being in ''[[The Violin Maker of Cremona]]'' opposite future husband [[Owen Moore]].<ref name=varobit/> While at Biograph, she suggested to [[Florence La Badie]] to "try pictures", invited her to the studio and later introduced her to D. W. Griffith, who launched La Badie's career.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://11east14thstreet.com/2013/08/02/florence-la-badie-becoming/|title=Florence La Badie, Becoming|last=Zonarich|first=Gene|date=August 3, 2013|website=11 East 14th Street|access-date=April 8, 2017}}</ref>

In January 1910, Pickford traveled with a Biograph crew to Los Angeles. Many other film companies wintered on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], escaping the weak light and short days that hampered winter shooting in the [[East Coast of the United States|East]]. Pickford added to her 1909 Biographs (''Sweet and Twenty'', ''They Would Elope,'' and ''To Save Her Soul'', to name a few) with films made in California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Pickford Chronology |url=https://marypickford.org/mary-pickford-chronology/ |access-date=February 27, 2024 |website=Mary Pickford Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Pickford, America's Sweetheart, born in Toronto, actress |url=https://www.discover-southern-ontario.com/mary-pickford.html |access-date=February 27, 2024 |website=www.discover-southern-ontario.com}}</ref>

Actors were not listed in the credits in Griffith's company. Audiences noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance. Exhibitors, in turn, capitalized on her popularity by advertising on [[sandwich board]]s that a film featuring "The Girl with the Golden Curls", "Blondilocks", or "The [[Biograph Girl]]" was inside.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mary Pickford, Silent Movie Star |website=goldensilents.com |date=2020-06-14 |url=https://www.goldensilents.com/stars/marypickford.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222005326/https://www.goldensilents.com/stars/marypickford.html |archive-date=2023-02-22 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pickford left Biograph in December 1910. The following year, she starred in films at [[Carl Laemmle]]'s [[Independent Moving Pictures|Independent Moving Pictures Company]] (IMP). IMP was absorbed into [[Universal Pictures]] in 1912, along with Majestic. Unhappy with their creative standards, Pickford returned to work with Griffith in 1912. Some of her best performances were in his films, such as ''Friends'', ''The Mender of Nets'', ''Just Like a Woman'', and ''[[The Female of the Species (1912 film)|The Female of the Species]]''. That year, Pickford also introduced [[Dorothy Gish|Dorothy]] and [[Lillian Gish]]—whom she had befriended as new neighbors from Ohio<ref>{{cite book |last=Affron |first=Charles |title=Lillian Gish: Her Legend, Her Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X44SqEVU2r4C&pg=PA19 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2002 |pages=19–20 |isbn=978-0-520-23434-5 }}</ref>—to Griffith,{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}} and each became a major silent film star, in comedy and tragedy, respectively. Pickford made her last Biograph picture, ''[[The New York Hat]]'', in late 1912.

She returned to Broadway in the David Belasco production of ''[[A Good Little Devil]]'' (1912). This was a major turning point in her career. Pickford, who had always hoped to conquer the Broadway stage, discovered how deeply she missed film acting. In 1913, she decided to work exclusively in film. The previous year, [[Adolph Zukor]] had formed [[Famous Players Film Company|Famous Players in Famous Plays]]. It was later known as [[Famous Players–Lasky]] and then [[Paramount Pictures]], one of the first American feature film companies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Adolph Zukor (1873–1976) {{!}} American Experience {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pickford-adolph-zukor-1873-1976/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Mary Pickford with camera2.jpg|left|thumb|Mary Pickford, 1916]]
Pickford left the stage to join Zukor's roster of stars. Zukor believed film's potential lay in recording theatrical players in replicas of their most famous stage roles and productions. Zukor first filmed Pickford in a silent version of ''A Good Little Devil''. The film, produced in 1913, showed the play's Broadway actors reciting every line of dialogue, resulting in a stiff film that Pickford later called "one of the worst [features] I ever made ... it was deadly".{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}} Zukor agreed; he held the film back from distribution for a year.

Pickford's work in material written for the camera by that time had attracted a strong following. Comedy-dramas, such as ''[[In the Bishop's Carriage]]'' (1913), ''[[Caprice (1913 film)|Caprice]]'' (1913), and especially ''[[Hearts Adrift]]'' (1914), made her irresistible to moviegoers. ''Hearts Adrift'' was so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicized pay raises based on the profits and reviews.<ref name="Kevin Brownlow">{{cite book|last=Brownlow|first=Kevin|title=Mary Pickford Rediscovered|year=1999|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|isbn=978-0-8109-4374-2|pages=86, 93}}</ref> The film marked the first time Pickford's name was featured above the title on movie marquees.<ref name="Kevin Brownlow"/> ''[[Tess of the Storm Country (1914 film)|Tess of the Storm Country]]'' was released five weeks later. Biographer Kevin Brownlow observed that the film "sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not the world".<ref name="Kevin Brownlow"/>

Her appeal was summed up two years later by the February 1916 issue of ''[[Photoplay]]'' as "luminous tenderness in a steel band of gutter ferocity".{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}} Only [[Charlie Chaplin]], who slightly surpassed Pickford's popularity in 1916,<ref name="MBI)">{{cite web|url=http://www.marypickford.com/mpickford_bio.pdf|title=Mary Pickford, filmmaker|access-date=February 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708203521/http://www.marypickford.com/mpickford_bio.pdf|archive-date=July 8, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> had a similarly spellbinding pull with critics and the audience. Each enjoyed a level of fame far exceeding that of other actors. Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Pickford was believed to be the most famous woman in the world, or, as a silent-film journalist described her, "the best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history".{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}}

=== Stardom ===
[[File:Mary Pickford-Ziegfeld.jpg|thumb|Mary Pickford, 1920|left]]
Pickford starred in 52 features throughout her career. On June 24, 1916, Pickford signed a new contract with Zukor that granted her full authority over production of the films in which she starred,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Christina |last=Lane |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200952 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710073149/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_bio/ai_2419200952 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 10, 2012 |title=Mary Pickford |publisher=St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture |date=January 29, 2002 |access-date=January 11, 2009 }}</ref> and a record-breaking salary of $10,000 a week.<ref name="OP" /> In addition, Pickford's compensation was half of a film's profits, with a guarantee of $1.04 million (US${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|1040000|1937|r=-4}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}),<ref>{{cite book |last=Balio |first=Tino |title = The American Film Industry |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |year=1985 |isbn = 978-0-299-09873-5|p=159 }}</ref> making her the first actress to sign a million-dollar contract.<ref name=varobit>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|date=May 30, 1979|page=1|title=Mary Pickford, 86, First Great Film Star, Dies Five Days After Massive Stroke}}</ref> She also became vice-president of Pickford Film Corporation.<ref name=varobit/>

Occasionally, she played a child, in films such as ''[[The Poor Little Rich Girl]]'' (1917), ''[[Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917 film)|Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm]]'' (1917), ''[[Daddy-Long-Legs (1919 film)|Daddy-Long-Legs]]'' (1919), and ''[[Pollyanna (1920 film)|Pollyanna]]'' (1920). Pickford's fans were devoted to these "little girl" roles, but they were not typical of her career.{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}} Due to her lack of a normal childhood, she enjoyed making these pictures. Given how small she was at under five feet, and her naturalistic acting abilities, she was very successful in these roles. [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]], when he first met her in person as a boy, assumed she was a new playmate for him, and asked her to come and play trains with him, which she obligingly did.<ref>Clip of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. describing this incident. ''Mary Pickford: Muse of the Movies'', 2008. Documentary.</ref>

In August 1918, Pickford's contract expired and, when refusing Zukor's terms for a renewal, she was offered $250,000 to leave the motion picture business. She declined, and went to [[First National Pictures]], which agreed to her terms.<ref>''The New York Times'', November 10, 1918. p. 20</ref> In 1919, Pickford, along with [[D. W. Griffith]], [[Charlie Chaplin]], and [[Douglas Fairbanks]], formed the independent film production company [[United Artists]]. Through United Artists, Pickford continued to produce and perform in her own movies; she could also distribute them as she chose. In 1920, Pickford's film ''[[Pollyanna (1920 film)|Pollyanna]]'' grossed around $1.1 million.<ref name="OP">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pickford-chronology/|title=Timeline: Mary Pickford|work=American Experience|publisher=PBS|date=July 23, 2004|access-date=January 11, 2009}}</ref> The following year, Pickford's film ''[[Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921 film)|Little Lord Fauntleroy]]'' was also a success, and in 1923, ''[[Rosita (film)|Rosita]]'' grossed over $1 million as well.<ref name="OP"/> During this period, she also made [[Little Annie Rooney (1925 film)|''Little Annie Rooney'']] (1925), another film in which Pickford played a child, ''[[Sparrows (1926 film)|Sparrows]]'' (1926), which blended the [[Dickensian]] with newly minted [[German expressionism|German expressionist]] style, and ''[[My Best Girl]]'' (1927), a romantic comedy featuring her future husband [[Charles "Buddy" Rogers]].
[[File:MaryPickford4.jpg|thumb|A [[Movie poster#Lobby cards|lobby card]] for ''[[Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921 film)|Little Lord Fauntleroy]]'' (1921)]]
The arrival of sound was her undoing. Pickford underestimated the value of adding sound to movies, claiming that "adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the [[Venus de Milo]]".<ref name="OP"/>

She played a reckless socialite in ''[[Coquette (film)|Coquette]]'' (1929), her first [[Sound film|talkie]],<ref name=Katz>{{cite book | author-link=Ephraim Katz|last = Katz | first = Ephraim | title = The Macmillan International Film Encyclopedia | publisher = Macmillan | location = New York | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-333-74037-8 |oclc=39216574 |edition=3rd |page=1087}}</ref> a role for which her famous [[Ringlet (haircut)|ringlets]] were cut into a 1920s' [[bob cut|bob]]. Pickford had already cut her hair in the wake of her mother's death in 1928. Fans were shocked at the transformation.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pickford/peopleevents/e_fans.html People & Events: Mary Pickford, ''Fan Culture''], PBS.org; accessed December 4, 2015.</ref> Pickford's hair had become a symbol of female virtue, and when she cut it, the act made front-page news in ''[[The New York Times]]'' and other papers. ''Coquette'' was a success and won her an [[Academy Award for Best Actress]],<ref name="mdecline">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pickford/peopleevents/e_decline.html The Long Decline], PBS.org; accessed December 4, 2015.</ref> although this was highly controversial.<ref>{{cite web |last=Soares |first=Andre |title=Mary Pickford Oscar Controversy: Can Best Actress Statuette Be Sold? |url=http://www.altfg.com/film/mary-pickford-oscar-controversy/ |website=Alt Film Guide |date=2007 |access-date=April 7, 2025}}</ref> The public failed to respond to her in the more sophisticated roles. Like most movie stars of the silent era, Pickford found her career fading as talkies became more popular among audiences.<ref name="mdecline"/>

Her next film, ''[[The Taming of the Shrew (1929 film)|The Taming of The Shrew]]'', made with husband [[Douglas Fairbanks]], was not well received at the box office.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pickford/peopleevents/p_fairbanks.html "Douglas Fairbanks profile"], pbs.org; accessed May 19, 2014.</ref> Established Hollywood actors were panicked by the impending arrival of the talkies. On March 29, 1928, ''The Dodge Brothers Hour'' was broadcast from Pickford's bungalow, featuring Fairbanks, Chaplin, [[Norma Talmadge]], [[Gloria Swanson]], [[John Barrymore]], D. W. Griffith, and [[Dolores del Río]], among others. They spoke on the radio show to prove that they could meet the challenge of talking movies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramon|first=David|title=The Dodge Brothers Hour|publisher=Clío|year=1997|isbn= 968-6932-35-6}}</ref>

A transition in the roles Pickford selected came when she was in her late thirties, no longer able to play the children, teenage spitfires, and feisty young women so adored by her fans, and not suited for the glamorous and vampish heroines of early sound. In 1933, she underwent a [[Technicolor]] screen test for an animated/live-action film version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', but [[Walt Disney]] discarded the project when [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] released its own version of the book. Only one Technicolor [[Film still|still]]<!-- or is this [[still frame]]? --> of her screen test still exists.

She retired from film acting in 1933 following three costly failures with her last film appearance being ''[[Secrets (1933 film)|Secrets]]''.<ref name=varobit/><ref name=Shipman>{{cite book|author-link=David Shipman (writer)|last=Shipman|first=David|year=1995|title=The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years|pages=461–466|publisher=Warner Books|isbn=0-7515-0809-8}}</ref> She appeared on stage in Chicago in 1934 in the play ''[[The Church Mouse]]'' and went on tour in 1935, starting in Seattle with the stage version of ''Coquette''.<ref name=varobit/> She also appeared in a season of radio plays for [[NBC]] in 1935 and [[CBS]] in 1936.<ref name=varobit/> In 1936, she became vice-president of United Artists<ref name=Shipman/> and continued to produce films for others, including ''[[One Rainy Afternoon]]'' (1936), ''[[The Gay Desperado]]'' (1936), ''[[Sleep, My Love]]'' (1948; with [[Claudette Colbert]]), and ''[[Love Happy]]'' (1949), with the [[Marx Brothers]].{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}}

=== The film industry ===
[[File:MaryPickfordHoover.gif|right|thumb|Mary Pickford giving President [[Herbert Hoover]] a ticket for a film industry benefit for the unemployed, 1931]]
Pickford used her stature in the movie industry to promote a variety of causes. Although her image depicted fragility and innocence, she proved to be a strong businesswoman who took control of her career in a cutthroat industry.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=The Star System: Hollywood's Production of Popular Identities |url=https://archive.org/details/starsystemhollyw00mcdo |url-access=limited |last=McDonald |first=Paul |publisher=Wallflower |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-903364-02-4 |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/starsystemhollyw00mcdo/page/n44 33]}}</ref>

During [[World War I]], she promoted the sale of [[liberty bond]]s, making an intensive series of fund-raising speeches, beginning in Washington, D.C., where she sold bonds alongside [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[Douglas Fairbanks]], [[Theda Bara]], and [[Marie Dressler]]. Five days later she spoke on [[Wall Street]] to an estimated 50,000 people. Though Canadian-born, she was a powerful symbol of [[American culture]], kissing the [[Flag of the United States|American flag]] for cameras and auctioning one of her world-famous curls for $15,000. In a single speech in Chicago, she sold an estimated five million dollars' worth of bonds. She was christened the U.S. Navy's official "Little Sister"; the Army named two cannons after her and made her an honorary colonel.{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}}
[[File:Fairbanks - Pickford - Chaplin - Griffith.png|thumb|220x220px|[[Douglas Fairbanks]], [[Charlie Chaplin]], and [[D. W. Griffith]], with whom Mary Pickford founded United Artists in 1919]]
In 1916, Pickford and [[Constance Adams DeMille]], wife of director [[Cecil B. DeMille]], helped found the [[Hollywood Studio Club]], a dormitory for young women involved in the motion picture business.<ref name=varobit/> At the end of World War I, Pickford conceived of the [[Motion Picture & Television Fund|Motion Picture Relief Fund]], an organization to help financially needy actors. Leftover funds from her work selling Liberty Bonds were put toward its creation, and in 1921, the Motion Picture Relief Fund (MPRF) was officially incorporated, with [[Joseph Schenck]] voted its first president and Pickford its vice president. In 1932, Pickford spearheaded the "Payroll Pledge Program", a payroll-deduction plan for studio workers who gave one half of one percent of their earnings to the MPRF. As a result, in 1940, the Fund was able to purchase land and build the [[Motion Picture & Television Fund|Motion Picture Country House and Hospital]], in [[Woodland Hills, California]].{{sfn|Whitfield|1997|pp=8, 25, 28, 115, 125, 126, 131, 300, 376}}

An astute businesswoman, Pickford became her own producer within three years of her start in features. According to her Foundation, "she oversaw every aspect of the making of her films, from hiring talent and crew to overseeing the script, the shooting, the editing, to the final release and promotion of each project". She demanded (and received) these powers in 1916, when she was under contract to Zukor's Famous Players in Famous Plays (later Paramount). Zukor acquiesced to her refusal to participate in block-booking, the widespread practice of forcing an exhibitor to show a bad film of the studio's choosing to also be able to show a Pickford film. In 1916, Pickford's films were distributed, singly, through a special distribution unit called Artcraft. The Mary Pickford Corporation was briefly Pickford's motion-picture production company.<ref name="ushistory"/>
[[File:Mary Pickford signing the entrance to the Mary Pickford War Funds bungalow.jpg|left|thumb|Bungalow Mary Pickford War Funds, 1943]]
In 1919, she increased her power by co-founding [[United Artists]] (UA) with Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and her soon-to-be husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Before UA's creation, Hollywood studios were vertically integrated, not only producing films but forming chains of theaters. Distributors (also part of the studios) arranged for company productions to be shown in the company's movie venues. Filmmakers relied on the studios for bookings; in return they put up with what many considered creative interference.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

United Artists broke from this tradition. It was solely a distribution company, offering independent film producers access to its own screens as well as the rental of temporarily unbooked cinemas owned by other companies. In 1919, Pickford established The Mary Pickford Company, that was devoted exclusively to producing films distributed by United Artists. With the film ''Pollyanna'' being Mary's first film distributed by The United Artists.<ref name="Mary Pickford Foundation">{{cite web |title=Mary Pickford Chronology |url=https://marypickford.org/mary-pickford-chronology/ |website=Mary Pickford Mary Pickford Foundation |access-date=March 22, 2023}}</ref> Pickford and Fairbanks produced and shot their films after 1920 at the jointly owned Pickford-Fairbanks studio on [[Santa Monica Boulevard]]. The producers who signed with UA were true independents, producing, creating and controlling their work to an unprecedented degree. As a co-founder, as well as the producer and star of her own films, Pickford became the most powerful woman who has ever worked in Hollywood. By 1930, her acting career had largely faded.<ref name="mdecline"/> After retiring three years later, however, she continued to produce films for United Artists. She and Chaplin remained partners in the company for decades. Chaplin left the company in 1955, and Pickford followed suit in 1956, selling her remaining shares for $3 million.<ref name="ushistory">{{cite web|website=u-s-history.com|title=Mary Pickford biography|url=http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h3890.html|access-date=January 24, 2007}}</ref>

She had purchased the rights to many of her early silent films with the intention of burning them on her death, but in 1970 she agreed to donate 50 of her Biograph films to the [[American Film Institute]].<ref name=Katz/> In 1976, she received an [[Academy Honorary Award]] for her contribution to American film.<ref name=Katz/>